Obama unveils $50 billion roads, rail and air plan to win votes

President Barack Obama has unveiled a $50 billion plan to expand and renew
roads, railways and airports in a late bid to boost confidence in the
economy and prevent the Democratic Party from suffering a landslide defeat
in forthcoming polls.

President Obama proposed building 150,000 miles of roads, constructing and maintaining 4,000 miles of rail and rehabilitating 150 miles of runway, as well as modernising the air traffic control systemPhoto: EPA

The plan was one of several economic initiatives Mr Obama was due to unveil this week, when campaigning begins in earnest for the Nov 2 midterm elections.

Speaking in Wisconsin on the Labour Day holiday, which marks the end of summer in the United States, President Obama proposed building 150,000 miles of roads, constructing and maintaining 4,000 miles of rail and rehabilitating 150 miles of runway, as well as modernising the air traffic control system.

He also proposed setting up an infrastructure bank to coordinate private, state and local capital to invest in projects.

“All of this will not only create jobs now, but will make our economy run better over the long haul,” he said.

The plan, which needs the approval of Congress, would spend $50 billion (£32 billion) in the first of its six years, and would be paid for by ending tax breaks for oil companies, the official said.

Through the next eight weeks of campaigning, Mr Obama will argue that Democratic policies brought the economy back to life and produced some economic growth, even if it has been much slower than everyone had hoped for.

Democrats are facing an angry electorate that could end their four-year majority in Congress. Many experts and polls indicate that they could lose control of the House of Representatives and perhaps even the Senate, which would make it much harder for the president to advance his agenda on issues like immigration and climate legislation.

Mr Obama and his advisers will continue to warn voters that Republicans would bring back ideas that propelled the country into the deepest recession in 70 years.

“They’re betting that between now and November, you’ll come down with a case of amnesia. They think you’ll forget what their agenda did to this country,” he said in Milwaukee.

In another speech in Ohio tomorrow [weds] Mr Obama will announce tax credits for research and development, which the White House projects will cost $100 billion over ten years and would be paid for by ending some corporate tax breaks.

He will also recommend extending middle-class tax cuts, investing in clean energy, and delivering more tax cuts to businesses to encourage hiring.

There is little appetite in Washington for a massive new round of government stimulus spending after the $814 billion Recovery Act, leaving the Obama administration scrambling for targeted solutions to a stubbornly high 9.6 percent unemployment rate.

"President Obama's agenda represented 'change' once, but now it is time for him to change course, abandon his job-killing policies, and find himself a new economic team," said John Boehner, the Republican leader in the House.